Building a Pod
by Prime627
Summary: All Ultra Magnus wants is a pod. He had tried before and failed, but now it looks like he's going for. And then things go awry. (MTMTE characters based off uniformshark's mers on tumblr. I OWN NOTHING)
1. Chapter 1

Their prescence in the oceans didn't go unnoticed. With their calves continuously beaching themselves in their attempts to play in shallow water, it was a wonder they didn't get spotted the first day. Still, even with humans aware they existed, their trash still turned up in the oceans, the water was still a dangerous place to be with hunters looking for the mers, fishermen, and their boats with the mean, damaging propellers that could easily hack through bone and destroy anyone, even Ultra Magnus. The mers, however, did understand that in deeper waters, they were left mostly undisturbed, and in shallow, warm waters, they were often approached. Their calves didn't understand the danger of humans up close. They had a better chance of survival in the sights of a shark, which would more than easily swallow a calf and not even notice its struggles down its throat.

Ultra Magnus, eager to get his new pod on the road to greatness, had started adopting lone calves that just wandered aimlessly. He had collected a few, lost a few more, until he only had calves Jazz and Hot Rod. Prowl, a black mer with a white underbelly and splashes of white on his flukes, had claimed Jazz as his own. The calf was gripping his dorsal fin, nuzzling the soft, smooth skin there fondly. Prowl reached back as Ultra Magnus watched and tickled under the little one's chin. The calf purred and nuzzled against the mech a little harder.

Hot Rod was curled up in Ultra Magnus' hands because Ratchet refused to carry him. The bull was on his tail, his eight tentacles curled around the other's flukes, securing him there. Every so often, Ultra Magnus would have the urge to shake the slower mech off and let him struggle behind, but he needed a pod, and Ratchet was an important part of his pod. He was a medic.

"Are we there yet?" Hot Rod yawned up at Ultra Magnus, his blue eyes searching his face. He didn't like long trips, and migration was one of those very, very long trips the little calf learned to hate. There was simply nothing for the little thing to do other than get lost and get left behind and eventually eaten if he wanted to get out of Ultra Magnus' servos. Jazz, at least, learned that he was smaller and slower than Prowl, and was more than happy to hold onto the bigger mech.

"Not yet. The water is still warm."

"I _still_ don't know why we have to go somewhere cold," the calf muttered. His little tailfin beat the water as he sighed, his gaze flicking to the side. "Fish!"

Ultra Magnus lifted his head and he saw that there was, in fact, fish in the distance. Fish for the taking. No one was around, he thought. He looked at Ratchet, who was sleeping. He would usually coast close to the sand so the mech could get off and wait on the sand with the calves, but since the red-and-white striped mech was sleeping, Ultra Magnus supposed he wouldn't be too upset at being disturbed if he woke up in a cloud of fish. After all, Ultra Magnus thought as he approached the school of tuna, he was the biggest mer in the sea. What did he have to worry?

While he and Prowl hunted to the best of their ability, they didn't see the larger-than-normal net that dropped down and scooped half the school up, including the mers. Ratchet, waking up, was furious to find himself in the embrace of a net. He showed his displeasure by digging his claws into Ultra Magnus' skin. The mer fought then, breaking the net open and scooping Prowl and an armful of fish out before the net raised and took a small amount of the still-struggling fish up above the water. A quick glance confirmed Jazz and Hot Rod were safe, if shaken and crying, but they settled down when Ultra Magnus swam away as far as he thought was safe and started killing the fish. He had to feed Hot Rod and Jazz small morsels at a time because their tiny mouths could only handle so much. Ratchet on the other hand was swallowing whole fish at a time, alive or not, if they escaped ltra Magnus' grasp or if they sank to the sand, forgotten. Prowl ate almost delicately. Ultra Magnus waited until everyone was full before he finished up the meal.

As he ate, he thought about the large net. It was, he supposed, the same kind that scooped up half a pod of mers. He had witnessed the taking with wide eyes, but he was too slow to save them. What the humans were doing, he was willing to bet, was "accidentally" lifting the mers out of the water with their intended prey, explaining the huge net. He made a vow to avoid all nets and to be extra cautious.

Then he gathered Hot Rod in his servos again, holding the little orange, red, and white mer closer to his chest than he usually did as he waited for Ratchet to secure himself to his tail again. After checking on the mech and nodding a little at Prowl, the mech beat his large flukes and headed back in the direction of colder waters.

On the way, Ultra Magnus hoped he could find more mers for his tiny pod. He knew there would be more than a few lonely mers out there, with the ocean so big.

Hot Rod was momentarily distracted by a meduim-sized pod of whales trumpetting their songs so loud the water around the mers vibrated. "They look like you, Magnus!"

"Those are humpback whales," Ratchet observed. He tapped Ultra Magnus' tail. "Try your song."

Ultra Magnus cleared his throat and slid into his song with minor uncertainty. He hadn't sung since he found Prowl and Ratchet, but after the first note, he knew exactly what to do. It was a song of longing, and the whales went silent after the third note and listened. When he was finished, the mers had an escort of whales. Hot Rod abandoned Ultra Magnus' servos to beat his tail side-to-side furiously. He swam beside a calf six times his size, his poisoned fins fanning out as he reached and touched the side of the blue calf. The cow it belonged to gave a soft, short song of love and moved closer to her calf. Hot Rod gave a chirrup and went back to Ultra Magnus, who was gazing around. Surprise made him freeze.

On one whale's back clung a mer, her eyes closed. She was unlike anything Ultra Magnus had ever seen, and he moved closer. She was a dawn-pink with a light splash of white on her face and down her chest. Her tail beat up and down slightly, and her eyes flicked open when Ultra Magnus touched her side. "Hey, hey, hey! Watch it..." She growled lowly, detaching from the whale. "What are you doing?"

The whales swam on past them, a few calves making soft songs of confusion before the lead bull trumpetted a new song and the whales were caught up. Ultra Magnus missed their presence.

"You're being left behind."

"Well, who's fault is that?" She crossed her arms and stared him down. "What were you trying to do?"

"Look..." Ultra Magnus didn't know what to say, and he fumbled for words until Hot Rod spoke up.

"Who are you?"

The cow looked down at Hot Rod and smiled. Ultra Magnus blinked in surprise. Was she pretending to be tough? "Call me Aleta, little one. What's your name?"

Ultra Magnus released the little calf and watched him swim to the new femme. "I'm Hot Rod."

"Cute. Where are you going, Hot Rod?"

"We're migrating," the little thing groaned. "Do you want to come with us?"

The cow looked around at the small pod. "Well, let's look at my options. You." She sighed softly. "For weeks, I've been with that pod of whales, looking for a pod of my own kind to join for migration, and now that I've found one..." She looked at Ultra Magnus. "Mind if I tag along? I'm sorry for snapping at you. You caught me off-guard."

"It will never happen again," he vowed. "And I would be honored to have you.

Aleta smiled and let Ultra Magnus swim forward. She settled next to Prowl, watching Jazz with a fond expression.

Ratchet reached out with one of his eight appendages and curled it around her fluke. She turned her head to look at him, then at Ultra Magnus while the mech slowly untangled himself from around the large blue flukes of his pod leader.

"Don't mind him. He did the same to Prowl and me." Ultra Magnus beat his flukes, savoring the feel of the water on them now that Ratchet was gone. But Aleta was slowing down, beating her tail a little faster just to keep going. Ultra Magnus shifted Hot Rod to one servo and took her servo. "He's a little heavier than he looks."

"I've noticed," she puffed. She stopped beating her tail, letting Ultra Magnus pull her along, and Ratchet slowly crept up her back, his appendages spreading out all over her body, pressing in different areas while he checked her out.

"He's a medic. He monitors health, a good thing to keep around."

She squirmed a little, laughing. Ratchet apologized for touching a particularily ticklish part under her arm. "How'd you find him?"

Ultra Magnus remembered being kicked out of his sire's pod and coasting low to the sand, passing a strangely colored rock only for it to latch onto his flukes and not let go. "He found me, I guess."

Prowl chuckled lightly at the story and he took Hot Rod from Ultra Magnus. Jazz was sleeping lightly, curled around his dorsal fin. Ultra Magnus touched the calf's head.

Aleta told her story slowly. She was a Siren, had a pod that spent most of their time on sharp rocks, luring all kinds of ships to their doom. She fed on humans, animals they were carrying, and any kind of cargo they had. She said her favorite ships to bring in were cruise liners and cargo ships that smelled like exotic fruit and fear. She was one of the best Sirens before humans started carrying weapons on their ships and her pod was wiped out, save her, three other cows, and the lead bull, but she felt she had a better chance of survival alone. "Stupid thought, but I've made it so far by myself. I missed being part of a pod, though. I forgot how social I really was, even with females I hated."

Ultra Magnus slowly nodded in understanding, feeling Ratchet prod his flukes. He slowed and let the mech crawl back on. He looked back at the bull and rolled his eyes. The brightly colored mer was sleeping soundly. "I'm beginning to think he's more of a night creature," he said.

Aleta glanced behind her and smiled. "I'd have to agree."

And sure enough, when night came, Ultra Magnus found Ratchet bright-eyed. The mech angled himself to the surface and took a deep breath. He had to breathe every so often with Prowl, Jazz, and now Aleta, but Ratchet and Hot Rod could stay underwater all they wanted. So Ultra Magnus laid on his back, Prowl on his left with Jazz on his chest and Aleta on his right. Ratchet was prowling the ocean floor for food, eating greedily and saving what he didn't rather like for the calves. Hot Rod was snoozing lightly on Ultra Magnus' flukes.

One time, when the pod was only him and a few calves, Ultra Magnus had fallen asleep with both eyes closed. He had lost three calves to sharks, another two to curious humans, and one when he moved his flukes and the little air-breather sunk to the bottom to die, not strong enough to fight through the water to the surface when she realized how badly her lungs were burning. Ultra Magnus had vowed not to lose another calf to stupid mistakes, and so far he had succeeded. Granted, the only calf he trusted himself with couldn't really suffocate under the massive amounts of water, and granted there were only two calves, and granted he had more mechs with him now...but now Ultra Magnus slept rigid and with one eye open.

 **ooo**

When Ultra Magnus woke up, a pod of dolphins surrounded them, also sleeping with one eye open, but on their sides. He woke Aleta, looked over at Prowl and prodded him, then ducked below the surface without disturbing the dolphins too badly. Aleta was laughing.

"They liked you! They felt safe around you!" She purred as she dropped to the ocean floor to find Ratchet laying on his side, breathing deeply. His belly was rounded and he was laying inside a clam, the clamshell open. Ultra Magnus sighed, settled Hot Rod among the tentacles, then closed the clamshell and carried it in his arms.

Prowl rubbed his eyes sleepily, Jazz swimming beside him. "What's that?"

"Ratchet's new bed," Ultra Magnus sighed. "There's no fragging way I'm waking him up." He remembered the last time he woke the octomer up. Ratchet had attached himself to his face, and refused to let go for a good fifteen minutes. By the time Ultra Magnus stopped struggling, he needed a new breath of air.

The waters had begun to cool when Ratchet woke up and climbed out of his shell. Possessed by Nature, he clung to Aleta again, and this time, his tentacles had a new reason for their proddings.

Aleta shrieked and shook herself, but the mech stayed on. She rolled over and over, and that was when Ultra Magnus saw the tentacles buried in her slit. "Get him off!"

Ratchet dug his claws into her back and growled lowly, and Aleta stayed still. She whined and let him do what he wanted, which didn't look remotely possible. Three tentacles were inside her, obviously moving around.

"What is he doing?" Ultra Magnus frowned as he swam closer, keeping the ever-curious Hot Rod away. Jazz had successfully been distracted by a starfish that had been thrusted into his little hands by Prowl, who was watching the scene with a tilted head.

"He-he has his... _things_ inside me and they're _moving_ and tying themselves into _knots_ and _ooooooh_..." She whined and beat her flukes a little harder. Ratchet grunted and slowly pulled his tentacles out, crawling under her and setting himself squarely over her slit. That was when Aleta really started to squirm.

Ultra Magnus didn't understand. His eyes were narrowed and his head was tilted, and then he was even more puzzled when Ratchet pulled away and Prowl replaced him. This time, Aleta clung to him and whined in a pathetic way, nuzzling and rubbing against him. She broke away from him and reached down, rubbing her slit that ever-so-slightly gaped. She looked at Ultra Magnus quizzically, then swam just a little closer to Prowl and Ratchet. Jazz and Hot Rod nestled themselves together in Ratchet's shell, whispering. The octopus joined them shortly, falling into a deeper sleep than usual.

After the clamshell closed, everything seemed to go back to normal, and Ultra Magnus was grateful for that. He thought nothing else strange would happen the rest of the trip. He should have known better.

They found her laying on the ocean floor, net around her body, strangling her. Once, she had struggled furiously, but when Ultra Magnus and his pod arrived on the scene, she was slowly beating her tail, slowly cycling water. And, as the pod watched, she went still.

Aleta rushed forward and started clawing at the net. Ultra Magnus dropped the clamshell, Ratchet springing forward and slinking across the sand as fast as he could carry himself. Then he was on her, forcing water through her gills while his hands tore at the net. Prowl circled them all, anxious.

The female started cycling intakes again, started moving furiously until the last restraining bit of net was gone and she tore off across the sand, her tail flicking like Hot Rod's. She even looked like him, but more frilly and less poisonous by a hundred percent. She watched the pod for a moment, then came back.

"Thank you, thank you." She hugged Ratchet, who protested gently, then wrapped her arms around Aleta. "I didn't think I would ever get out of that awful net..."

Aleta held her close. "What happened to you?"

"Humans tried to capture me!" She whined loudly and shivered. "I fought them and I guess my struggles broke their machine hauling the net, because it shrieked and I was back in the ocean..." She shuddered, looking around. "I'm so far from home...I...don't know where I am..." She covered her face and cried.

Ultra Magnus swam to her, gently touching her scaled body. She was small, just barely bigger than Jazz and a foot smaller than Prowl, and weaponless. Ultra Magnus doubted she could swim faster than Ratchet. She was only to look pretty.

And he couldn't leave her.

"Well, we're migrating, and we sure wouldn't mind it if you tagged along."

"Migrating? I've never migrated before..." She looked around again at the vast ocean and she curled a little closer to Aleta. "It sounds scary...and fun!"

Good, Ultra Magnus thought. Another female to add to the pod.

 **I REFUSE TO LISTEN TO ANOTHER CORRECTION ABOUT MY USE OF ALETA. DEAL WITH IT.**

 **Anyway, I wanted to play with my mers again x3 So, enjoy.**

 **If you want to know what they look like, look at uniformshark's mers on tumblr. I love them x3 I used them all, I think, save Oil Slick and Whirl...I didn't know enough about them to attempt. X3**


	2. Chapter 2

The female's name was Strongarm, and for the majority of the journey closer to colder waters, she was quiet, only uttering a few words when they ate fish. Hot Rod, bored of the long journey, decided that meal time would be the perfect time to suggest a game, and he chased Jazz around Ultra Magnus and Prowl, nipping at the other calf's flukes. Jazz did not appreciate the game one bit. Prowl gathered the calf under him and growled at Hot Rod lowly, stopping when Aleta swatted at him lightly.

"He's just a calf. You can't blame him for wanting a little fun."

Prowl's lips dropped back over his jagged teeth and he sighed, nodding. "I know..."

Ultra Magnus ate thoughtfully. Ratchet and Prowl were not interested in Strongarm, even though she was beautiful, and she was not interested in them. Ultra Magnus himself wasn't even interested, but he had felt minor tuggings toward Aleta. The female was playing with Jazz, teaching him how to jump out of the water. Prowl watched possessively.

Ratchet was on Ultra Magnus' back, treating the punctures he had put into the bull's skin. "A mussel for your thoughts?"

Magnus winced at the thought of the mussels. Ratchet preferred them over fish, thank Primus, but Magnus would eat tuna any day. Give him eels for all he cared, just not a single mussel. A broken tooth marked his struggles with the mussels. "Why are you not attacking Strongarm?"

"Because she is part of the pod now." Ratchet replied absently, completely absorbed in laying seaweed over the wounds that would probably heal by the next morning.

"But you attacked Aleta," Magnus whined. He hated how he sounded like a confused sparkling, but he was confused and he was desperate for answers.

"Oh. That." Ratchet finished treating the mech. "I was ensuring the growth of our pod by...you know..." The medic dropped below the larger bull and rubbed his chest where the net had rubbed his skin raw.

"What do I know?"

He stopped then and looked at him. "You've never...?"

Magnus scowled. "I don't understand! Would you just say it?"

But he refused. He avoided the question entirely and instead curled up back on Magnus' tail. Aleta swam down to him with Jazz and Prowl. Hot Rod cuddled into his shoulder.

"Are we ready now?" Prowl asked.

"I'm ready if you are," Magnus said and he beat his flukes a little rougher than usual. Ratchet patted his skin this time instead of digging his claws into his skin. Ultra Magnus gave a soft whine only Hot Rod heard.

But their journey was cut off when harpoons started shooting down at them. Prowl was hit through his flukes and the harpoon, connected to a rope, started pulling him towards a ship that had appeared.

"Magnus!"  
Ultra Magnus dropped Hot Rod and swam after him, slashing his claws through the rope. Prowl struggled in the water. Every movement to his tail made him yelp in pain. Ultra Magnus drug Prowl closer to him and coaxed the mech to hang onto his flukes. Ratchet curled around Jazz and Hot Rod, snarling up at tiny figures with black skin and large visors over their faces, their mouths plugged with a black, shiny object that fed a tube. Bubbles trailed up to the surface. Green fins on their lower appendages kicked steadily as they moved closer and closer to Ratchet.

Strongarm was netted, and Aleta who had bravely attempted to save her, was tangled in a new net. Ultra Magnus found himself, yet again, too slow to save his pod. Ratchet was caged and lifted and the only thing Ultra Magnus could do was let harpoon after harpoon pierce his hide and blubber before pulling him up and onto the ship where he laid, his organs pressing against each other, his heart...his lungs. He wheezed, thrashing. Hot Rod was in a tank, his cries muffled by the glass. Jazz thrashed weakly beside him, almost protected by Prowl, who had fought the humans. Strongarm was already fading, his hands limp and her eyes dim. Ultra Magnus closed his eyes as one massive tear rolled down his face.

And then darkness.

 **ooo**

Their tiny boat was no match for a whaling ship, but eventually, flashing Mer Guard flags and badges, the ship halted and surrendered their catch.

"He's too big to tow." The man that spoke was looking at the large, bulky mer. He was a medic to the mers, and he loved them almost as much as Isla, the leader, did. "He's experiencing some internal crushing, but I think he'll bounce back. Which means we could just hook a rope around his middle and let him swim after us."

"Let's get him in the water," Isla said. She lifted the baby mer out of the weaker mer's arms. "How's that scaled female?"

The medic walked over to the pretty, frilly cow. A young team of volunteers were pumping water through her gills. The cow was watching them with wide eyes, her mouth open around a hose. Her upper body rested almost comfortably in a girl's lap as she stroked her head. "Looking good."

"She's not thrashing," someone commented. "It's like she understands we're not going to hurt her."

Isla stroked the little calf's head, pouring water down on his sticky skin. The calf livened up softly, making gentle noises down at the bull at her feet. A wet towel was laid out on his side to keep his skin hydrated. His fingers were curled around her ankle, his eyes pleading.

"Strange." Isla knelt and laid the calf next to the bull, who immediately threw his arms around the tiny thing and held him under the blanket. "The bull and the calf are different species, but they act like they're related."

"Bull, you said?" The medic and the rest of the team were pulling the large mer into the water, down the ramp and into the sea. The bull thrashed weakly, helping them whether it wanted to or not. But when he hit the water, instead of swimming off, he looked at them all quizzically and down at his bleeding back. "Bulls like him tend to be alone until they find some cows. They don't get cuddly with younger generation bulls."

"Huh."

The mer they were least worried about was the octomer, who had discovered a pouch of mussels on one of the volunteers and was currently eating as if he hadn't seen food in months. He let anyone touch him, and even let them play with his tentacles.

"He looks just like Tarn," someone laughed and Isla smiled at the comment.

"Let's get these mers back to Fins and Hands, guys. Roll out."

 **ooo**

Ultra Magnus let them hoist him into the large tank. When he was in the water, he wiggled out of the sling. The tank was huge and contained another pod.

The mer, smaller than he but a good foot bigger than Prowl, charged him, lashing his tail side to side. Gills worked angrily and Ultra Magnus trumpetted his song of fear. The mer changed direction to attack his reflection.

Ratchet landed in the water next and immediately clambered onto Ultra Magnus' back, his frills fanning out in fear. A large purple mass was lounging in a cave, tentacles waving lightly in the current of a filter discharging clean water.

Aleta curled herself into Ultra Magnus, staring at the other mers in the tank. Her gaze was drawn to a small school of five purple and green fish protected by a similar-colored mer. He swam lazily and the fish nuzzled up against his sides, belly, and hands. "This is a strange place..."

Hot Rod and Jazz came with Prowl and Strongarm in a cloud of bubbles. The black and white mer shook himself a little before gazing around and sighing. "Welcome to tank life..." Prowl moved slowly and mostly by moving his hands, his flukes wrapped with purple fabric, still apparently tender. Magnus felt the same kind of substance sticking to his back, but the coloration was green. Ratchet was investigating it.

"They appear to be healing our hurts and putting us into a controlled environment to monitor our progress."

Aleta showed the octomer her wrapped hand. She had lost two fingers from fighting with the whalers. "Is this healing our hurts?"

"My apologies for your loss."

Aleta's response was interrupted by a new mer, his tail flicking furiously back and forth. His scales were black with splashes of white, not unlike Prowl's colorations. He didn't look like the silver mech that bluff-charged Magnus, but he took a stance to guard his little pod anyway.

"Welcome, friends! Please, don't be scared. My name is Rewind." His tail was tattered, some of his fins both missing and shredded. But his expression was cheerful, though laced with ugly scars. "I see how Megatron greeted you. He is a new addition, and is still working out the kinks of living in a tank such as this..."

"Tank?"

"A glass structure containing water and creatures of a person's choice," Prowl offered, cutting Ratchet off. The medic stared at him, his mouth open. That had never happened before.

Ultra Magnus looked at him. "You have been in one before?"

"I was born in one." Prowl looked away. "I'd rather not talk about it." To ensure no one prodded him further, he tucked Jazz to his chest and he moved further away from Magnus and the others

Rewind just smiled as warmly as he could manage. He wasn't sure how these new arrivals would fit into their pod here... "I see you are injured. The humans take lovely care of us. Always have. And..." He looked at Aleta's hand and tutted, gently taking it. She let him. "I am sure you will look even more beautiful when this wrap is gone."

"I sent you to be nice, Rewind, not to flirt," scolded a orange, red, and white mer. He didn't have flukes or a tailfin. Instead, he had a coiled tail and tiny fins that worked to move him forward, as well as his hands. Gills worked steadily and the mer extended his hand to Magnus when he arrived. "Welcome. I am Chromedome."

"What _are_ you?" Aleta touched his coiled tail in wonder.

"Just a mer," he chuckled. "Though I do resemble some of these..." He swept his arms out to indicate the tiny things following him, and they did indeed resemble him. "My trainer calls them seahorses. I think they are rather cute."

"Trainer?"

"Ah. For certain events, the humans call on certain ones of us to do certain things to raise donations of green paper. That substance keeps our tank running and the rescue-mers coming in." He nodded at the fabric wrapped around the new arrivals. "It is why you are here. For whatever reason, Isla thought you could not be released in your current state, so you will stay here until you heal or until you pass."

Ultra Magnus saw this Chromedome's missing fin and he noted how he leaned to one side and worked to keep his body staighter. He sighed and nodded. "Then we stay?"

"Yes." He smiled then. "We are not all bad... I really think you will enjoy your stay here."

 **ooo**

Isla watched her mers interact with the new ones. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were narrowed when Megatron charged the large mer, but he was caught up, once again, with his reflection. She had to figure out how to change that. He was a very pretty, very wounded mer. When he was taken, he had taken several blows to the head to get him off one of the crew members, resulting in Megatron's instability. His trainer, Nick, had a lot to work with, but so far, things have gone optimistically. The only wound Nick ever got from Megatron was a cut when the mer dug his claws into his hand a little to hard and Nick jerked his hand away.

While she watched her mers and her new ones interact cautiously, she thought of her mers.

First to come to her was little Rewind, a blinded, whimpering bundle of scales. He had a run-in with humans as well, but not in the worst ways. Teenagers had found the little thing struggling in fishing line tangled around his face. It would have been okay, since it was wrapped around his head fins and didn't hurt him, but then he got the line stuck on rocks and he had tore off. The thin line dug into his face, scarred his eyes, and made the little thing hysterical. He was Isla's little baby, and she knew he always would be.

Mixmaster had been abandoned by his school for unknown reasons and had replaced it with the fish that they resembled. Every attempt made to put him with a new school failed, so Mixmaster was left to guard his school of fish. He even hand-fed them.

Tarn had been saved much like the new mers, but instead of being released, he refused to reunite with his own kind. He trailed the boat all the way back to their base, climbing in and seating himself by his trainer. They carried him cheerfully back to his home and played a long game of Find the Fish.

Perceptor was much like Mixmaster, only his schools refused him from the time he was born. The school had been monitored by Isla's friend, and she had cried when her favorite calf was ignored by his mother. So they went out and rescued little Percy, bringing him back and settling him with the collected mers. The tank was slowly upgraded to include the Rockies, the Caves, and the Deep to suit all species of mers. A community was formed, and Isla saw the beginnings of a pod.

Skyfire was saved just in the nick of time. He was still thrashing when Isla arrived on the boat. She watched as the crew tried to hurry up and open the mer's abdomen to take the favored organs and to let her have the rest, but she pushed the men out of her way and held the wound closed while her team went back for her medic, Jones. Skyfire favored him ever since. His scars were ugly, since he thrashed all through the stitching and had pulled his stitches dozens of times, and his scars bothered his pod when he returned. They isolated him and he was left alone until Jones went fishing and came back with the catch of the day: Skyfire, who had lept into his boat in an act to get what he wanted. A friend.

Drift was the calf of a mer Isla had tried to save, but the cow would have nothing to do with the tank. She repeatedly smacked herself off the glass walls, struck herself on the fake corals, and even some of the real ones until all that was recognizable was her pregnant belly. Drift was born via operation when the cow finally gave in to her wounds and sunk to the bottom, Drift still struggling in her dead body.

Starscream was a character when he arrived, bitten and bleeding. He only responded to the trainer who dubbed himself Knock Out (real name Tony). Starscream's species were loners, and could technically be released, except that he had become so attached to Tony that when the man left on the weekend, Starscream had lapsed into depression. Not only did Tony now work seven days a week at his favorite job, but he often dove into the water to play with his favorite mer, suit or not. "Clothes can be replaced," Tony had said once. "Not his love."

The pod just grew bigger and bigger after that. Calf Tailgate joined them during migration when his carrier's body made a mishap. Tailgate was born painlessly, and was promptly left in the figurative dust since Tailgate's mother preferred to coast behind the pod. Isla found Tailgate floating on his side, twitching and still red. A small school of fish were nibbling at his cord that connected him to his carrier while he was in her womb.

Soundwave, another solitary mer, was found swimming dangerously close to the shores where humans liked to swim and play, and so Isla took a team down to figure out what was wrong, but the mer retreated. They came back several days, and went home without seeing a frill of the mer, until the last day when the mer had beached himself. The plastic that held single cans together was wrapped around his neck, cutting off circulation. Isla figured that baby Soundwave had fancied the plastic and turned it into a toy, only for him to grow into an adult and for it to be trapped around his neck. The circulation did do it's damage. Soundwave the solitary mer became Soundwave with a ray for a pet, something unheard of. Without his pet, Isla believed, they would lose Soundwave, and rays were a favorite snack of any mer with a mouth. Anything could happen to the little thing if Soundwave turned his back on her.

Chromedome was a calf when he came to Fins and Hands. He had been rescued from a beaching only to have his fin torn off by a too-curious human who thought them to be damaged. With his compromised state and irregular swim-pattern, Isla couldn't release him, even if he was healthy and had mastered keeping himself mostly upright. Rewind had fancied him right from the beginning.

Isla was jolted from her thinking when the large mer twisted himself, angling deeper to investigate his new home. Chromedome and Rewind swam in front of him and the large mer's friends stuck close to him, looking around. The two calves quickly joined the other two calves on the bottom where they lounged in sight of Tarn. The large mer reached out a tentacle to prod the new arrivals before curling them back into his cave. The newly arrived octomer dropped on his two calves and checked them out, turning them around and around until he was satisfied that they had not been harmed. Then he curled himself back around the large flukes of the blue mer.

"Success," Tony cheered as he walked to Isla. "I wondered if it would be too soon to let Starscream into the tank."

They kept Starscream mostly seperated, in the Rockies, because he was unpredictable around Megatron, but lately his attitude toward him had improved.

"It wouldn't hurt. But stay with him, will you?"

"You know I will." He jogged off before she could add a request for him to wear his suit.

Isla took one last look at the tank before she walked to her office to log the new arrivals and she prepared next week's schedule to include the new mers. She chewed on the end of her pen as she thought, looking at the growing stack of bills.

"I hope these guys can help us while we help them." She leaned back in her chair. She loved mers, more than almost anyone. But love didn't pay bills. Money did. She had promised herself that money wouldn't run the show, but it already was. "We need something to help turn this around," she sighed, "or I'm going to lose them, my staff, and everything I've worked for."

She vowed to not let that happen.

 **It took a different turn than expected, but here you go. X3 Tell me what you think so far. I like it. It's fun.**


End file.
